La Forza Della Luce
by AKAAkira
Summary: When Tsuna sees Namimori's newest students, he just knows it in his gut: more trouble, for him and his family, lies ahead.
1. Resonating Spirits

**Summary**: When Tsuna sees Namimori's newest students, he just knows it in his gut: more trouble, for him and his family, lies ahead.

Takes place after the events of the (SPOILER ALERT) fight with Millefiore family but before the Inheritance arc (Shimon family arc). Link and Zelda are reincarnations, and this story doesn't take place in or before any of the Legend of Zelda games' plot.

**Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn belongs to Akira Amano (funnily enough, my first name in Japanese is Akira) and the Legend of Zelda series belongs to Capcom. I own absolutely nothing in relation to either works, except for the idea to mesh them together.**

**_A/N So yeah, generally I would write the prologue first and generally I would go through my series in order (stories one and two are out, make sure you read them!) and GENERALLY I would number the story before I started writing, but this story needed some time because it was dependent on reviews. More about that later, though: for now, please enjoy Chapter One!_**

Chapter One – Resonating Spirits

People call me Hapless Tsuna. And they're completely right. I don't get good grades, I'm not very good with girls, and I'm utterly abysmal at sports. Most of all, I still get bullied, even though I'm fourteen years old and should be able to speak up for myself.

"And don't forget that you're supposed to be the 10th generation boss of a Mafia family," the baby beside me scolded. "What are you doing, not trying to fight back?"

"No I am _not_! That's just something you claim I am, but I'm really not!"

The baby pointed a gun – a _real _gun – at my head. "Say it," he said threateningly. "Say you're the '10th generation boss of the Vongola family'."

"Uh…well…but…"

The alarm clock went off.

"Ah, sorry, Reborn, but I have to get to school! See you later!"

I dashed out of my room before Reborn, the baby, had a chance to petrify me with his scary voice.

So, where was I?

I still get bullied whenever Gokudera, my friend and my "family" member, wasn't around. Fourteen and still occasionally getting a bruise on my face, a cut on my arm, and a sore stomach. Enough to give me a phobia to any bully.

And that's why I especially didn't want to go to school today.

Even bullies fear _something_, usually bigger and meaner bullies. And the person who was supposed to be a new transfer student, who was coming today, was rumoured to be the biggest bully of them all.

Rumour among the bullies was, this new student had single-handedly fought and beaten six members of the neighbouring Kokuyou gang (a remainder from when Mukuro Rokudo and his friends had taken over the school). Rumour had it that the transfer student didn't have even a scratch on his body, after that fight. And rumour had it that he was a major aspiring gangster. Rumour had it that he was tall, big, mean-looking, dyed his hair blond, and changed his name to "Link".

Today just couldn't pass fast enough.

* * *

I met Yamamoto first.

"Hey Tsuna!" He cheerfully called. "So, we're going to get a new classmate today, right? I can't wait to see him!"

That stopped me short. "_Class_mate? I thought he was a first-year."

"No, I'm pretty sure he was supposed to come into our class. Our teacher was talking about it yesterday, remember?"

Of course I didn't remember. I never seem to hear the important stuff.

"So, I'm thinking of asking him to join the baseball club!"

"WHAT? Yamamoto, haven't you heard the rumours about him?"

"You mean, that he's the best athlete that Kokuyou had ever seen? Yeah, I heard that from a lot of my teammates! That's why I wanted to ask!"

"Wha…but…"

The bell rang the first time.

"Better get to class! See you there, Tsuna!"

As Yamamoto dashed ahead, I was left with a really dreadful sensation in my stomach. My imagination started going wild.

_What if…what if Yamamoto was wrong and as soon as he starts asking, he'll get beaten up?_ I thought. _What if this new student was so violent even Hibari couldn't beat him? What'll we do then? He'll have total control of the school! There won't be anything anyone can do! I can't fight him, I'll get – _

"Oof!"

Down I went, with the person I collided with, onto the painful floor.

"Ow! Sorry, are you all right?"

The other person, a kind-looking young boy, smiled a little apologetically and nodded.

"I'm really sorry about that. Um, are you new to this school? I don't think I've seen you around before."

The blond-haired boy nodded again, and motioned towards a piece of paper by my foot. I picked it up and looked at it.

"Oh! You're in the same class as me! Hey, I can show you where it is."

My new classmate smiled happily.

"…I'm sorry if I seem rude but…are you mute?"

The other boy nodded.

"I'm sorry about that. Oh, I didn't introduce myself yet. My name's Tsunayoshi Sawada. You can just call me Tsuna."

The boy nodded again, smiling, and then pointed at his timetable in my hands. I read it again.

"So your name is…"

I started choking. The boy looked at me concernedly, until I sputtered out, "_You_'re Link?" And _now_ I realize that, of course, if he really was a new classmate like his timetable suggested, he really couldn't be anyone but Link.

The boy just smiled and nodded again. I looked at him a little more objectively. Sure, he had no scratches, was blond-haired, and had an unusual name, but there was nothing to suggest that he was also violent, strong, fearsome, or… well, or anything else the bullies had been talking about. "Um, I'm sorry if I seem rude again, but… did you really –"

The final bell rang.

"Ack! Shoot! We're gonna be late for class!"

* * *

We really were late.

Both Link and I got excused because he was new, but our teacher made it clear that another infraction would have severe penalty. (I noticed Gokudera taking a stick of dynamite out of his pocket. Hopefully he won't do anything rash.)

Contrary to my expectations, the day passed by without incident, much to my relief. Sure, Gokudera tried to blow up every other person who approached me, Yamamoto was oblivious to – well, just about every secret I've hidden from him, both Kyoko and Haru came over to hang around with us and I made a new friend – Link. But really today was nothing different from the usual day. Just another, good, normal day. Exactly what I needed.

School ended.

"Hey, Link? Where do you live?"

Link made a couple of gestures with his hand that I was just starting to know how to decipher.

"Uh… something about Beverly Hills?"

Link shook his head and made the same gestures again, and this time I realized: "Oh, those were directions, not words. Hey, we live around the same area, do you want to –"

"Link!" At the call, both Link and I turned. And –

BANG! I was sent staggering backwards, and scored a two-pointer straight into a nearby trashcan.

"Link! It's good to see you again! How was the new school? Did you make any new friends yet?"

In my struggle to get free, I tipped over the garbage can I was in, crashing with a lot of noise into the ground, and rolled out covered in plastic bags and banana peels.

"Oh, so sorry about that!" The mystery girl who seemed familiar with Link quickly helped me up, brushing off the debris on my sweater.

"Uh, it's all right."

"No really, I'm sorry! It was really stupid of me to crash into you like that. So you're one of Link's new friends?"

"I…well, yeah, I guess."

"Don't guess about being friends!" the mystery girl said crossly. "It's a _yes_ or _no_ question."

"Yes, yes I am."

"That's better. My name's Zelda Sairyu." Zelda gave me a little wink. "Take care of Link while he's in school. But for tonight, he's mine. See ya!"

And then she dragged off Link to what was probably her house. Before they turned the corner, though, Link waved at me apologetically and made motions with his hand.

My guess is, See you later.

"Ah, so you met the mysterious duo, now did you?"

"Ack! Reborn! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"It was your own fault for not paying attention," Reborn replied, smacking me on the head. The little Mafia baby then asked: "What do you think of them?"

"Uh, Link and Zelda? They're nice, I guess…still don't know a lot about them, though."

"Hmm. I was thinking of having them join your family."

The comment was made so bluntly that I could do nothing but stare blankly at him with my mouth hanging wide open.

"Stop that," Reborn scolded, whacking me twice on the sides of my face. Ignoring my cries of "Ow!", Reborn continued, "Before you ask, they _are _related to the Mafia too, so it's not like their lives are going to be drastically changed by asking them to join Vongola."

"Wait – _they_'re Mafia too?"

"Listen, you dolt." Reborn hit me again, this time on the chin, meriting another reply of "Ow!". "I said they were _related_to Mafia, not necessarily they themselves were Mafioso. One of the oldest families, the Fate Antico family, stretching back nearly two thousand years, are watching over them, protecting them from whatever harm might come their way."

"I didn't know families got that old."

"Very well, it wasn't technically called a Mafia family way back then. They're only considered Mafia because they were based in Sicily when the first generation of families were formed. Even then they were a relatively mild group; only weapons manufacture and smuggling, and information marketing."

I was silent for a moment. Then I asked: "Why do they look over those two, out of everyone else in Japan?"

"That information will have to wait," Reborn said, hopping off the wall he was standing on.

As he landed, though, he glanced sharply to his right. I followed his gaze, but there was no one there.

"Reborn?" I asked uncertainly.

"It was nothing," he replied, but I didn't believe him this time.

Before I could ask more, however, he put up his gun and said threateningly: "You have homework."

"Wha-wait-wait wait, don't shoot –" I started running. "Don't shoot! Don't shoot! DON'T SHOOT!"

* * *

The next day was just as fine as yesterday.

Although I heard Zelda say she was transferring over to Namimori, she apparently still had to wait a few days. Tomorrow, Link had said in sign language, smiling.

I don't know when Link started to learn sign language, but his hand movements were smooth, swift, and precise. (Not that I should judge – I still can't recognize more than half of Link's gestures.) And when school let out, I also realized that at least one part of the rumours was true – Link was fairly fit. He plays sports with a lot of enthusiasm, almost as good as Yamamoto when we were playing baseball. He could probably get a scholarship for any sports program he applied to, seeing how well-rounded he is.

_He could also be a good fighter_, _which was why Reborn had his eyes on him,_ I thought resignedly, once the game finished and we were heading home.

As if my own thoughts had summoned him, Reborn popped out. "Tsuna!"

"What the – Reborn, what are you doing here?"

"I'm on a little delivery assignment for your new friend. A certain someone asked me to give him a little something."

I frowned. That was strange, when did Reborn become a deliveryman?

"So what are you de –" Before I finished the sentence, he showed me what was in his hand.

"WHAT THE – a _BOX_ weapon? Are you out of your mind?"

"Oh, shut up," Reborn replied, smacking me twice across the face. He then turned to the bewildered Link. "Ciao-su. My name's Reborn, and I'm Tsuna's personal trainer. A certain someone asked me to give you this." And then he handed to Link the box weapon, and to top it off, a ring to go with it.

"Ha-hang on, I thought those weren't supposed to be invented yet!"

"I'll tell you about that later. For now, though, I'm also supposed to coach Link on how to use it. I think the gym's fine – no one should be in there for the rest of the day."

Only now I remember what Reborn had given to Yamamoto as a "gift": a bat that turned into a sword when swung. In hindsight, I really should've seen this coming.

"Reborn, I don't think this is such a good idea –"

There was a squeal. Like, one of those "Oh-it's-so-_cute_!" sort of squeal. And before I knew it, Zelda was in the picture.

"Hi there! My name's Zelda. Did anyone tell you you reeeally look adorable?"

"No, but thank you for the compliment. My name's Reborn."

"Oh! You talk! Now that's a surprise. What are you doing here away from your mommy?"

"Right now, I'm teaching your friend how to use the stuff in his hands."

"Well, don't let me bother you then!"

_How did this happen_? I asked myself in the gym, listening to Reborn's voice.

"The ring you have there is very special. If you correctly harness your determination, it will actually produce a certain flame. That flame is used as both a 'key' and a 'power source' for the weapon you have in your other hand. What we're going to do today is have you practice so you can open the box whenever you choose. A secondary agenda would be to see what's inside the box, because even I don't know."

I took several deep breaths and told myself:

1. Two new people – one male, one female – had entered my life.

2. Reborn wanted them to join my 'family'. Like my family wasn't weird enough already to contain one boxing nerd, one used-to-be suicidal dynamiter, one oblivious swordsman, two girls who think the Mafia isn't something to be worried about, two babies that sometimes turned ten years older instantly, one girl who's only living through fake organs, one juvenile delinquent who only respects a baby (AKA Reborn), and one psycho maniac magician who's ready to stab me in the back anytime.

3. Link had potential as a fighter, and Reborn was determined to take that potential to the maximum.

4. Reborn was coaching Link right now how to use a weapon that was supposedly not invented yet.

5. Zelda had accepted the fact that Reborn, a baby, could walk, talk, and shoot. (Not that anyone else didn't, but…)

6. She had also accepted that Reborn was a qualified tutor enough to sit on the sidelines and watch Reborn train Link to materialize his determination.

7. This can't be happening.

No, scratch that last sentence. I pinched myself, it hurt, and this was definitely happening. I sighed and started forward towards, ready to talk to Reborn again about the consequences of having someone's life irreversibly altered…

CRASH!

"What the –"

BANG!

"AA–mf…"

"Wait, Zelda?"

That was definitely Zelda's voice. What just…

The smoke cleared quickly and then I saw the scene.

Link was covering Zelda protectively, blood dripping from a nasty cut to his temples. A mangled mess of what must've once been a standard school desk lay on the spot where Zelda was standing. She had probably screamed as Link jumped and knocked her over, then her voice must've gotten muffled when Link's arm covered her face. But what had caused…

Almost as soon as I thought up the question, it was answered. A man dressed in a black coat strode into the gym, and his eyes narrowed when he saw Link defending Zelda. It was hard to believe he could've thrown the desk through the wall and onto the spot where Zelda was only moments ago, but that was the most likely answer. I thought now was a good time to get in between him and Zelda as well, and try to intimidate him away.

It wasn't working.

Reborn, at this time, had moved to my side and had drawn his pistol. "Tsuna," he said in a low voice. "You should probably know I can't fight him for you. Do you have any of those Deathperation pills at hand?"

I tried to keep my wince to a minimal. "No. They're in my backpack, which I left behind to where I was just sitting before I moved over here."

Reborn rolled his eyes. "Figures." He then directed his voice to Link. "You're up. Do you remember what to do?"

Link wiped off some of the blood on his face and took a deep breath. He lighted up his ring.

At once, the man reacted. Suddenly his hands (Was it his hands? It was so much darker than the colour of his face…) was holding machinery that I didn't recognize.

But I knew what it was for. And so did Reborn. "Dodge, now," he said, kicking me out of the way while Link scooped Zelda up into his blood-soaked arms and jumped out of the way.

Not a moment too soon, the device alighted and _something_ scorched the floor where we were collected.

"Uh-oh," I said, paling. "What would that do to _us_?"

"Link," Reborn called, but Link was way ahead of him. Already he pressed his ring against the box, opening it. And out popped…

"How did _that_ fit in the small box?" I said incredulously.

"You never know. That box could be a fourth dimension pocket."

"But… a shield?"

"You underestimate it. Have you seen Lambo's shield in action?"

Link's opponent was certainly underestimating it. He just sneered and raised his device again, pointing directly to Link, no longer concerned with Reborn or I.

"Link –" Zelda began, but the stranger had already pulled the trigger on that mechanism.

At once, the roof immediately above him collapsed. The startled man jumped back as pieces of wood, metal, and plaster hit the ground where he was just moments ago. He looked at Link, not comprehending.

"It reflected your ray."

The man was even more surprised than Link and Zelda when they saw me, seemingly floating on the air. I had taken the opportunity to get my gloves and the Deathperation pill.

"Looks like your shield reflects whatever's hitting it, Link," I continued, "so next time if he shoots you try to meet it squarely and reflect it back."

Link nodded, his determination renewed. He set his eyes on the man again, ready to defend the girl behind him from all harm.

"In the meantime, you have me to deal with," I finished, accelerating to just behind where the man was. Using the propulsion from my X-gloves, I punched him right on the back.

The man cried out; he skidded forward several steps, but strangely no bones were broken. Before I could wonder about the implications, the man turned and fired the device again.

This time, I dodged; reappearing again right behind the man. The man braced for another punch, but this time I didn't press my advantage.

"You can't catch me," I stated bluntly. "And that ray of yours simply doesn't affect me."

The man, angered, again raised his weapon and spoke.

"Let's see about that."

It was the first time he had spoken since he entered the gym; his voice was low, slippery like a snake. Almost otherworldly.

He fired. And I didn't even think. I dodged, and the ray went right past where I was and hit Link's shield squarely. Before the man even had the time to register what he just did, he simply disappeared.

No traces left.

I had hoped it would only stun. Not decimate. Killing had left a small knot in my stomach. But I still smiled at Link and said, "Nice job."

Link grinned back, his shield glowing dim, and returning to his box, closing with a snap. With his free hands, he said Thank you.

SSSHHRREEEE!

"Ah!"

"Zelda!" I yelled, panicked even in my calm state.

Very suddenly the space behind Zelda had been ripped open. A hand reached out and grabbed Zelda's arm. And before either Link or I could react, within the time allowed for Zelda to give one last cry, the hand yanked her in and she disappeared into the void.

Link could not speak. But from the expression on his face I knew, inside, he was screaming "NO!" He jumped forward.

"Link!" I yelled. I accelerated forward again and this time, I prevented him from entering. He didn't understand what was happening. He fought me, tried to yank out his arm from my grip.

"You don't understand! That's a trap! Zelda reappeared right behind us!"

The words were barely out of my mouth when the force of the hole increased exponentially.

I gritted my teeth. No way around. I gripped Link tightly, and using the intense power of my hard flames, I accelerated.

For two seconds, the opposing forces were at a standstill, keeping both me and Link motionless. Eventually, though, my gloves won out. It took all my strength to escape the reach of what I guessed was a black hole. Very closely giving Link a nasty burn, I pumped out the maximum amount of force that I could get from my gloves, and started escaping the void's suction. I looked back when the force of the rip started to decrease, and sure enough, it was closing. But another object caught my immediate attention.

Reborn had not been so lucky.

His own body had worked against him; with such a light body, and with such a weaker body, he was absolutely helpless against the rip. Giving only one last, annoyed "Tch!", he was sucked in, and the hole closed.

"Reborn!" I yelled. But I knew that, at least right now, with an enemy so close, it was useless. So instead I directed my attention to the man in front of me, intent of beating out every bit of information he had on the holes he had created.

Zelda's head was under the grip of his arms. She was unconscious – chloroform? Before I could ponder further, he created yet another black hole and stepped right in.

Link charged again. This time, I didn't stop him. I used the acceleration from my gloves to propel both of us forward.

But the man was on his guard. He closed the hole immediately this time, disappearing even before my gloves could catch him, leaving both Link and I behind, frustrated. He didn't reappear.

The worst had happened.

Link, injured.

Zelda, kidnapped.

Reborn…missing.

…_**And so, as you can see, the princess gets kidnapped for the light force inside her and Tsuna and Link go on an epic quest to rescue her before that can happen.**_

_**Earlier, I said this was dependent on reviews. This is because I want a random mix of the tools Link uses in the various Legend of Zelda games. This chapter, he used his shield; in the last, he will use his almighty sword; but in the chapters in between, I need suggestions. The boomerang, the grapple, the bombs, the bow, stuff like that. (Obviously, I can't use stuff that is utterly epic, like the Phantom Hourglass.) I'm only going to use one unique item per chapter, though. In summary, please go and vote for your one favourite Legend of Zelda gadget in the button below.**_

_**As always, thanks for reading, and please review!**_


	2. Swallow Your Pride

**Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn belongs to Akira Amano and the Legend of Zelda series belongs to Capcom. I own absolutely nothing in relation to either works, except for the idea to mesh them together.**

_**A/N I have one thing to say: I hate essays. Seriously, those things are killers. Why doesn't anyone try to charge 'em with attempted manslaughter?**_

_**Special thanks to **_**Nobody of Twilight**_** and **_**Night of Broken Glass**_** for reviewing! And for giving me Link's weapons!**_

_**This is the longest chapter I've written yet. I hope it matches your expectations!**_

Chapter Two – Swallow Your Pride

"Having a bit of trouble?"

My head snapped up. I saw Link jump slightly at the new voice. And there, seemingly unconcerned by the sight of a destroyed gym and two teenagers, one with a visible cut on his head, was a man in his late twenties. He was standing near the gym's exit, both hands in the pockets of his expensive-looking trousers, his right arm carrying a folded jacket over the wrist, and he looking around with only an amused and interested look on his face.

The first thing to come to my head was just a little thought: a complete stranger, especially not a rich one, wouldn't come wandering into a building that looked like it was falling apart. The second thing to come to my head was a different thought: he didn't seem surprised _at all_, at the holes in the gym, or the flames blazing on my gloves and forehead, or even at the bleeding that Link was trying to stop. And the conclusion of it all was –

_He kn__ows something._

In a flash, I zoomed in right in front of him, grabbing the front of his equally expensive-looking shirt with one hand and drawing my clenched fist back. "Who are you? What do you know?"

"Hey, hey, hold the violence. I'm not your enemy." For someone who was being threatened, he held his calm well. That was even more suspicious. "I just happen to know about the one you _should_ be facing, that's all. Where's Master Reborn?"

"None of your business," I shot back. If he was familiar with Reborn, then he should be related the Mafia too – and from the looks of him, he was probably one of the higher positioned ones. At the same time though, that still didn't tell me if he was a friend or foe.

_But when did I become so hostile?_ I asked myself, bewildered. _Since when have I threatened someone? Why was I so suspicious?_

…No, the answer was obvious. Ever since the little Mafia baby fell through what was so likely, so sickeningly likely, a black hole – now I'm all brawn, but no brain.

A headless lion has to be careful to survive.

"I see you still don't believe me," the man said, bringing my attention back to him, "but will you trust me more if I give you a few legit – pointers, shall we say."

At this point I felt Link tugging on my arm. The one that was still drawn back, ready to smash flat a stranger's face. I let it drop; I also released his shirt, and the man patted it down, smoothing the creases.

"What pointers?" I snapped back. "What can you possibly do to help us? And you haven't even answered my questions. Who are you and what do you know?"

"As for who I am…that's going to have to wait. Being anonymous isn't without advantages, you know." I could almost feel my temper bubbling, ready to explode. _Give me some answers already!_ "As for what I know…how about I start by asking you two to look for something?"

"Look for something?" What did that have to do with what he knows?

"Specifically, a projection in the skies. Something that should not be there."

What? Look for something that shouldn't be in the sky? Now I was just confused. Was he just trying to distract me, delaying my reactions if he attacked me?

Then Link tapped on my shoulder. And when I turned to him, he just pointed his finger upwards. I followed his direction. Saw nothing but the ceiling and the hole that was made earlier. So I shifted and squinted a little, trying to catch a glimpse outside, to what was supposed to be the red-orange sky of a setting sun, but was instead a cloud.

And there, I saw it.

I have no idea who or what was causing it, but there was three purple triangles just _there_ in the sky, a bit to our – south-east, I think, considering the setting sun. The triangles linked together at the corners to create an even larger triangle. Was this a sign of some sort? What did it stand for?

More importantly – "What's that doing in the skies?"

"It's a distress signal. You don't need to know all the details yet – but I can guarantee you that the one you just fought only a couple of minutes ago will be there."

Now _that_ was an answer I needed.

"Link! Let's go!" I started running, but then –

"Vongola Decimo!" The man called suddenly. I stopped, I turned back, and he said, "You know, you shouldn't head in without backup of some sort. Be glad I took the trouble of calling one of your Guardians for you."

I didn't have the chance to ask him for specifics. Because, from the door connected to the main building of the school, a cold, hard, and very much recognizable voice floated down:

"Tell me exactly why _my_ school is damaged, or I'll bite you to death."

* * *

To elaborate, it's not the voice I recognized, or even the tone he used. No, it was the way he emphasized the "my", as if he owned the school. Which, in a sense, he completely does.

"Kyouya Hibari," I said, speaking respectfully to the Namimori prefect, the head of the Disciplinary Committee, the leader of a group of delinquents, and the Cloud Guardian of my "family"; more than likely the strongest "family" member I had, besides Reborn. "We were attacked by a complete stranger just a little while ago and a battle ensued. The result is what you see now."

I gestured to the destruction in the gym – the sole tattered desk, the slight crater where it landed, two noticeable holes in the wall and ceiling, and several scorch marks on the ground indicating that someone tried to light a fire – the last one being very far from the truth, but I doubted that the prefect would care.

Said prefect glared at me, but seemed to have accepted my explanation. He then turned to Link and pointed one of his tonfas threateningly, but I jumped in – an unwise move to a person who lusted for violence, but I had to watch out for my friends. "That's Link. He just transferred yesterday, and Reborn was teaching him for a while before that stranger attacked. I don't think he's related much to the attacker."

Hibari glared at me again, and this time he looked at me like he wanted to hit my head clear off my body. I didn't doubt for a moment that he could actually do it with his tonfa, if he managed to make solid physical contact.

So now he turned to the last person in the gym – the other stranger, the one whose name I didn't even ask for yet. In fact, I don't even know what role he has in this incident. Was he one of the perpetrators? Someone who happened to pass at the wrong time? Or someone who's going to work with me?

"And who are _you_?" Hibari's voice definitely sounded deicidal. Now I kinda feel sorry for the guy, staring cross-eyed at the end of the tonfa nearly touching his nose. What kind of answer can he possibly give to dispel Hibari's ultimate fury?

"I'm just the person who's going to foot the bill for reconstruction to be finished by tomorrow morning," the man said brightly.

So much for Hibari's ultimate fury. Now that I think about it, this was the first time anyone other than Reborn managed to defuse Hibari. That was quite a feat.

Hibari grunted, his only sign of giving affirmatives. He yawned, then turned to leave.

Only to be stopped by my hand grabbing his shoulder. "Hibari, we –"

"Take your dirty hands off me," Hibari snapped, knocking my arm off. "Unless you want me to bite you to death?"

He held up his pair of tonfa again. _Not good._ _Come up with something, fast!_

"Reborn was captured!" I blurted out. Hibari seemed to be interested. _Yes! _"We – Reborn, Link, Zelda and I – were attacked by the same stranger who damaged the school. And now we know where he is. If you can help us subdue him…"

I paused, wondering if it was worth dangling a little prize in front of his face. On one hand, I truly needed his help, but on the other, I was pretty much baiting him with the next comment. It's not only that baiting was a dirty trick, especially to a "family" member, but it was a bad idea to put my metaphorical fingers too close; Hibari bites _really_ hard.

And then Reborn's face flashed across mind.

_I'll go for it_, I decided.

"If you can help us subdue him, I'm pretty sure Reborn has no qualms to accepting your superiority. At the very least, he'll give you a good match."

Hibari's reaction was unnoticeable for the first few seconds. And then –

"Oh, very well. I was getting bored up on the roof anyways."

I was torn between feeling triumphant and feeling depressed. Triumphant because with Hibari, this would go so much more easier, and depressed because once Reborn finds that I used him as leverage, he was sure to murder me.

Wait, he can't do that. I'm still the only candidate for Vongola leadership. He'll probably just torture me instead.

Pushing any images of Reborn with his bat into the deepest corners of my mind, I turned and said, "We'll be going…now?"

The other man had disappeared without a trace.

* * *

As I stared at the purple sign that must've been at least at least a kilometre up high, it occurred to me that it must be created by a Deathperation flame.

How else would two airplanes passing by not notice it? It had been up for over twenty minutes, if someone besides my group had seen it, _somebody_ would've investigated.

At the same time, though, I wasn't entirely sure about the invisibility of my Deathperation flames. After all, every members of my "family" could produce and see it, not to mention many of my past enemies. Plus, the flames from my gloves are material; they produce force and they undoubtedly _hurt_ if one was on the wrong end. But then again, the first few times I've used it, no one noticed the flame that made it look like my head was on fire. At least, no one mentioned anything about it.

I'll have to ask Reborn once we rescue him.

_If_ we…

No, screw that thought. I'm not giving up on him yet.

And now I lowered my gaze, and stared at the house in front of me. If this place wasn't directly under the sign in the sky, I wouldn't have given this place a second glance. Except, the door was entirely purple. The same hue of purple as the three triangles in the sky. I touched it. This one was definitely created by Deathperation flames. Considering that a lot of people pass by the house, the door had to be inconspicuous – but still had to be able to confirm that this was the right place. So, it was pretty likely normal people couldn't see it. But other than that, this house was modeled almost the exact same way as my house.

"Do we go straight in, or should we ring the doorbell first?" I wondered out loud.

Hibari only snorted and raised his tonfa, getting into a combative stance.

Link's reaction was less aggressive. "Go straight in," he signalled. "If the same guy from before is in there, we don't want to let him know."

I was glad I started to get the hang of reading sign language. At the same time, I was mortified that I wasn't thinking straight.

Undoubtedly, Hibari would've preferred to just smash the door down. So I stepped up, grasped and turned the doorknob, and pulled slightly. I found that the door _was_ unlocked, so I opened it wider.

Before grabbing both companions and sidestepping from a _huge_ arrow!

The arrow flew past us over ten metres per second – I would know, I've gone faster. It was bright green, about as tall as I was, had no fletching, and the head was just a sharpened point – so it's a spear, not an arrow. It ended up about half a metre into a tree, burying itself with a solid _thud_.

"That thing should _not_ be a part of a house," I said.

Hibari wrenched my hand off. "Then we destroy whatever did that to proceed."

I took a quick glance inside the doorway, ducking back out when another arrow – _spear_ – came flying out. This one hit the dead centre of the previous projectile, splintering it and taking its place on the tree, with another solid _thud_. "Do either of you know a word that's less awkward than saying 'spear machine gun'?"

The prefect, again taking up his tonfa aggressively, retorted, "Change that to '_annihilated _spear machine gun'."

_Thud_.

"If you're about to stroll in there and destroy the machine taking every hit it has the time to give, I'm going to have to ask you to change your mind."

"Do you want to finish this quickly or not? I can still bite you to death with multiple wounds, Sawada."

_Thud_.

"That's enough," I said sharply. "Hibari, we need you alive and well. We can do this my way or we don't do this at all."

"Are you trying to imply you have a better idea?"

_Thud_.

"Give me five seconds." Forcing my brain to think, I took a quick stock of the situation. My eyes glanced over to the fifth – _thud _– sixth arrow that came flying out. And when that happened, the previous arrow splintered from the centre, creating thinner wood pieces that fell to the –

No, it didn't. It disappeared before it could even touch the ground.

_Aha_.

I took two steps and grabbed the arrow that just hit the tree, before using –

"**Zero Point Breakthrough, Custom**!"

The arrow flared, burning brighter green, before disappearing in a blink of the eye.

"It's completely made of Deathperation flames – probably of the Lightning attribute. It's not completely solid, so Link should be able to reflect them with his shield."

I smiled at Link. "You're up."

Link determinedly nodded. He lit up his ring on his right and slammed it into the box on his left.

The box opened, and into his hands popped the shie –

"Um." That was the only word that I could say.

Hibari, of course, hadn't seen the weapon that Link _had_ used, so of course he found nothing wrong with the weapon that just came out of Link's box. I had to emphasize '_had_' because now, what popped into his hands were not the mirror-like shield that was in the box before, but two spheres that I believed was explosives.

Link, for his part, was gaping at his weapons in shock. His wide eyes flitted over each of the spheres, went back to his now-open box, before coming back onto his weapons again. On his right was a traditional-type bomb, with a fuse that was probably meant to be lighted by Deathperation flames. On his left was a more modern one that I recognized as a grenade – a recognizable nightmare from Reborn's weapons cache. It had a pin that one had to pull to start a timer, at which it should be thrown if one did not want to blow himself up.

I sighed, and took the latter weapon. "Link, please figure your weapon out before I have to change _another_ plan."

It was a harsher comment than it was intended it to be, but at the same time, we were dealing with an enemy that subdued _Reborn_.

I pulled the pin, threw it inside the corridor as hard as I could, and then closed the door.

"Five, four, three, tw –"

_BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM_!

"…So it was a three second delay." I proceeded to kick the door fully open, and peeked back inside.

And gasped.

Before, I had only took a quick look at the spear revolver (if that was even a proper phrase) mounted to the side of what I thought was a hallway, so I had completely failed to see that the door led to a stone corridor that lead on _past how big the house should be_!

I stepped in, and the sound of my shoes on the floor echoed loudly. I winced, and tried to step quieter, but the volume of the noise didn't change at all.

Stepping around the remains of the machine, I commented, "This place looks like a _dungeon_." The ceiling was low and there were torches hanging from the sides. The corridor itself had a dark and damp atmosphere. As we walked along, the echoes coming from all three of us walking were almost enough to drown out my voice. Anyone can sneak up on us now, we'll never hear them. "How long is this place going to go…?"

I halted, signalling my friends to do the same. I squinted forward – all I could see was torches after torches after torches…

It was because I stopped moving that I heard:

_Fwip_,_ fwip_,_ fwip_…

"Bats." In confirmation, the animals came slowly into view, heading towards us. These animals as well seemed like they were created from someone's Deathperation flames…which also meant they were someone's box weapons.

Seriously, the first time I've seen box weapons were ten years in the future. Why did they exist _now_, when only my "family" were the ones who possessed box weapons in this point in time?

Back to the incoming bats. "I guess we should chase them off to move on."

Hibari snarled suddenly, much more loud and feral than before, and I became intimidated. I nervously backed up, motioning Link to do the same, as the prefect once more took up his tonfa, spinning them and then – _BAM_!–viciously slammed a bat that came too close, snuffing it out of existence. Then – _WHAM_!–beat down the next one. Spun, then struck into another with excessive force. And another, and another, and another… Seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven bats total were destroyed before Hibari finally stopped spinning his tonfa and let down his weapons. "If this is the best challenge you can come up with, Sawada, I'm sorely tempted to fight you here, _now_."

I chose not to answer, only starting to walk forward again – only to stop when my foot kicked something small, something metal. I leaned down, and from the light of the torches, I picked up a –

"A key?"

"Who cares?"

I glanced at Hibari. He still looked aggressive, yet completely bored out of his mind. He fidgeted with his weapons, as if he wanted to – well, he said it himself. He looked like he wanted to pick a fight with someone right there. I need to relieve him soon. "Who knows? This might just lead into a room full of, say, more box animals to fight."

"If that's the case, get there _quickly_."

Moving down the corridor, I realized that the passageway was still stretched further along – how long? The silence was taut – especially more so as my two companions were either mute or antisocial. Thirty seconds of straight walking later, Hibari had started spinning his tonfa again…the corridor was still going on, with no end in sight; and how did this place fit inside a house?

Someone tapped me on the shoulder – Link, of course. I glanced, and using one hand he signalled: "This place doesn't feel right. Is there some trick behind this corridor?"

It was because I glanced back at Link that I noticed –

_The entrance was still in sight?_

"Definitely," I agreed. "But what can we do?"

I regretted that answer as soon as I said them.

Hibari gave another snarl, twirled his tonfa above his head – and _SLAMMED_ them straight into the wall!

_CRACK_!

As expected from Hibari, it wasn't the tonfa that broke – it was the stone wall. Even though it was easily a foot thick, the prefect had destroyed the obstacle, sent several large chunks of rock flying, and most importantly – created a small hole. He raised his other tonfa, and with another powerful strike –

_CRACK_! The small hole became a large hole.

Hibari stepped through, barely needing to bend down to pass through his exit. Link gave me a sort of helpless look, gulped and followed him. I grimaced, and also entered.

The room we stepped into was still impossibly large, but at the same time, it was different – it had a _door_. We were making progress.

I stepped past Link and Hibari, then tested the door. "This one's locked." I then produced the key, inserted it, and unlocked the door.

I wanted to grin at Hibari and tell him "I told you so", but that would just be suicidal of me. Instead, I simply opened the door.

And stared into an empty room. "Huh? Not even a treasure chest?"

Hibari only snorted. Link, disappointed, stepped into the room, looking around.

And then _iron bars_ came crashing down!

Link gave a bit of a gasp and jump forward slightly. I, on the other hand, stepped back. The obstacle was right in between us.

"Link!" I grabbed the bars. "One moment!" I concentrated, raising the temperature of my X-gloves higher, and higher, and higher…but nothing! How?

"Move aside!" Hibari ordered, roughly pulling me out of his way, before spinning his tonfa and –

_BANG_!

The thin iron bars held. Hibari growled, and – _BANG_! – struck the bars again. No results.

My attention went back to the blonde. "Link! Stay on guard! Don't let anything jump you!"

My words were barely out of my mouth when suddenly, _something_ dropped nearly on top of Link. Nearly, because Link had managed to roll out of the way. I wondered if it'll make a difference.

The _something_ that dropped turned out to be a creature that I've never seen before. At first I had thought it was just a really big coil of rope, but that hope was dashed when the brown _thing_ started moving. Cylindrical in shape, its top wobbled this way and that, slowly but surely moving to Link, who had his bomb in combative stance. That is, as combative as one can be holding a spherical weapon.

"Link! Hold on! We're coming!"

But to my surprise, he only shook his head. Without taking his eyes off the creature – _Reborn was right, Link _is_ a natural born fighter!_ – Link signalled, "Don't worry. I can beat him."

I had no chance to refute this statement because suddenly, the cylinder monster _jumped_. Link managed to sidestep out of the say, and from my angle, I saw that the top of the monster had a cavity. I wasn't sure what it was used for, but –

Strike that. I now know what it was used for.

The monster leaned forward, and started _sucking _the air. No, sucking didn't do it justice – it was more like it's the vacuum cleaner of the imaginative world. I could actually see all the dust and small rocks that were flying into the mouth – I didn't know for sure it was a mouth, but what else could it be, assuming that's how the creature eats?

Even Link, a sixty-kilogram teenager, was starting to lose ground. He shifted his centre of gravity down, trying to brace himself, but it wasn't helping – he was still sliding forward, little by little.

_Not good!_

I was about to get out my own box weapon when Link made his move. Now that he was close enough, he swung his bomb, and struck the creature horizontally. The blow managed to angle the mouth sideways, so Link took this opportunity to roll off to a safer distance.

The creature jumped to Link again, and started its vacuum cleaner – but this time, Link was prepared. In two motions, Link pulled his right hand back, lighting the fuse on fire with his ring, and threw it straight into the mouth –!

And it missed! The brown animal had stopped its suction, dropped, rolled, got back up, and _jumped at Link_!

_NO!_

Link was –

Already throwing another bomb.

_Huh?_

The explosion was surprisingly big and loud. For a moment I was afraid Link was injured again, but when the gate was raised and I dashed in, he was unharmed. What's more, no remains of the creature were in sight – so it was _another_ box weapon.

Link grinned, and raised his hand. I smiled back, and high-fived his palm. "Nice job!"

He laughed, then turned to Hibari and raised his hand again.

"I will bite you to death."

Link decided to let the prefect be.

"How did you do that?" I asked him. "Last time I checked, you only had _two_ bombs…and one was a grenade. Where did you get the other one?"

Link grinned again, and held up the bomb – wait, where did that one come from? He grasped it with both hands, and _pulled_.

And then there were two.

"Cloud flames," Hibari theorized, now looking slightly interested. "The bomb is made up of entirely Cloud-attribute flames…that would explain the propagation ability. Impressive."

Link's smile stretched even further, until I leaned in and whispered: "He only says that to people he wants to fight."

The blond's face paled, and he laughed nervously as he started edging away slowly.

And yelped as something else dropped right next to him.

I _almost_ had my box weapon out again – but then I realized that it was a ladder. Looking up, about five metres high, there was a hole that the ladder lead out to. "We'll have to go that way. I'll take the expressway."

Having said that, I accelerated with my X-gloves, shooting straight up and into the hole, leaving my friends to climb up the ladder.

The room I entered was much like the last – wide, tall, spacious overall. I wondered if this was where the creature dropped from – but there was nothing else here. By the time Hibari's head had popped up into the room, I was already examining every inch of the place – and by the time Link clambered out, I found something of interest.

"Look." There were cracks on a certain section. It looked like it could be destroyed, much like how Hibari had broken out from the passageway earlier. "Link, can you use one of your bombs?"

Hibari's cold voice distracted me. "Are you trying to imply that I'm _weaker_ than this imbecile?"

"No, I just need you at full strength." That reminds me… I turned to Link as well. "Link, you already know this, but the person we're going to face is extremely strong. If we meet him here, we need to go _all out_ from the start. Got it?"

Link nodded determinedly, while Hibari gave me a scathing "_You_ don't give me orders" kind of look. It was slightly worrying…but I think we can work together.

Link had already set his bomb alight, and placed it beside the cracked wall. He then ran to the opposite side of the room, and covered his ears. I followed suit, and Hibari just stood there, seemingly disinterested.

After three seconds –

_BOOM_!

The blast radius was surprisingly small – the explosion from before looked bigger than that. Maybe Link could control the size of the explosion? I was about to ask him, but then the dust reached us and both of us started coughing.

"Ugh," I gasped, coughed again, and spluttered, "l-let's go."

I blindly made my way to the new hole, being careful not to step into the one on the floor. Still coughing and gasping, I managed to feel my way to the warm, destroyed frame and stumbled into the new room.

And froze when I saw an unconscious Princess Zelda and her equally surprised kidnapper.

* * *

Both of us reacted at the same moment.

I lit my ring and shouted, "Natsu!" The miniature Sky Lion popped out, just as angered and ready to take out the enemy as I was.

Said enemy quickly grasped Princess Zelda by the arm, and _threw_ her into another hole that he created. He quickly stepped through himself, me chasing after him –

And from my peripheral vision, saw him crash into a wall to my left.

"Natsu! _Now_!"

The strange man pounded the wall in frustration, then turned and pointed his machine – only to yelp, drop the machine and jump away when Natsu turned it to stone. Hate in his eyes, he raised his hand toward me – but whatever he was going to do was interrupted by Hibari's tonfa slamming across his face. He flew to the corner of the room, crashed into a wall, and went down – only to step right back up again, apparently uninjured.

"Oh?" Hibari started speaking, sounding slightly interested. "You took my attack without any bruises or broken bones. I sense that you're not an illusion, either. Excellent." A scary, _scary_ grin was plastered on his face.

"I've always wanted to meet a human punching bag."

He spun his tonfa at impossible speed, then dashed forward and suddenly uppercut his opponent, who went flying up. Hibari grabbed him by the arm, threw him down, and right when the man landed – _SLAM_! – the other tonfa found its mark on the stranger's chest.

Said stranger choked, and sank into the ground – another portal! He reappeared right behind Hibari, somehow managing to stand, and tried to grab Hibari's face – "Don't you dare touch me," the prefect said coldly, swatting the arm aside almost casually. He then jabbed the point of his tonfa into the man's stomach, making him double up, at which point another horizontal blow was given, making the victim gasp in pain and back up – only to be stopped, and now I saw that there was a hook and chain attached to the man's jacket, right at the stomach area, where the prefect had struck before. Sure enough, the other end of the chain was connected to the end of one of his tonfa.

Hibari pulled on the chain, pulling the man forward again and then – _SLAM_! _SLAM_! _SLAM_! – delivered two horizontal and one diagonal slashes all on the man's face. The man backed up again, but this time he created a portal that he fell into – though Hibari tried to pull the chain again, the portal had already closed, and severed the metal chain in its termination.

The man appeared behind Hibari again, but before he could even attempt a move the delinquent caught the man by his jacket and threw him over his shoulder in a judo-like move. He then lit his own ring, releasing Roll, his Cloud Hedgehog.

Oh. I think I know what's going to happen next.

Indeed, Hibari gently grabbed his box animal, pressed it against the stranger's chest, and said softly: "How strong is your skin?"

Then: "**Needle Sphere Form**!"

The hedgehog's spikes _grew_. The Cloud flame's propagative attribute allowed the little animal's spikes to grow both in size and number, so much so that near one hundred _huge_ spikes attacked the man's chest and neck. He gave a gasp, but none of the spikes broke through his skin – so Hibari gave the animal even more power, even more spikes – still nothing.

More spikes, bigger spikes, both meant that to accommodate such surface area the hedgehog itself had to grow, and it did, bigger and bigger and bigger, so much that in ten seconds the hedgehog had already reached the ceiling and its countless spikes were pressed hard against the man's skin, making him choke. But there was still no blood.

At this point, the man had enough. He sank down into the ground again, but this time reappeared in the far corner, breathing heavily, no longer concerned with attacking the prefect. Hibari in turn made his hedgehog grow some of its spikes so big and so long that it covered the distance to the enemy in half a second – but the man had already disappeared again, reappearing at the other corner. Hibari tried to strike him with his tonfa, but the man went through another portal and reappeared at a different corner of the room. I tried to punch him myself, but he still retreated into a different corner.

Now Hibari scowled. He absolutely _hated_ cowards. The prefect grasped his hedgehog again, but then I stopped him. "I've a better idea. See his chest? The spikes didn't damage him, but the flames did."

We must be pretty good at working together for Hibari to have understood me like that. He gave me a sour look, but other than that he returned Roll into his ring. I faced Link, who didn't quite know what I was talking about – yet. So I gave him the hint: "How many bombs do you think you can make at once?"

_Now_ Link got it. He nodded, set the bomb on the ground, and _kicked_ it. I wasn't quite expecting that, but it worked – _dozens_ of his bombs suddenly separated from the original and scattered all over the room, some bouncing off walls. I then had Natsu come back into my ring, powered up my X-gloves – and _swiped_ the air with both hand, shooting my Deathperation flames and _lighting up every fuse_!

I wasn't an idiot. There _was_ a method of protection – Hibari. Burning his ring to its maximum, he finally released the technique that he inherited from the future:

"**Needle Sphere Form**,** Reversed**!"

* * *

It was a perfect technique.

The sole factor that governed our victory was the fact that the man _could not_ use his portals to exit the room. If he had the ability to, he would've done so, not only when trying to escape after Hibari's pounding, but as soon as we had entered the room. Somehow, this place was bringing its occupants together for one final battle before letting anyone out.

One problem remained though, and that was the fact that one singular attack at a time could not reach him because of his retained mobility. Even with the propulsion from my X-gloves, I could never get to the enemy fast enough to attack before he moved to a different location. The only solution to reach him was to attack everything at the same time. Hence, Link's multiplying bombs.

Of course, we couldn't get caught inside the blast ourselves, and that was where Hibari's special technique came in: one that was, for him, unusually defensive in this instance. Its original design was to expand the hedgehog's cloud flames so much that it enveloped both himself and his opponents. The property of the sphere was the creation of a "dome" inside of it, one that was not only airtight because of the limited space and the flame's combustion, but also expelled anything that happened to be powered with Deathperation flames to the outside of the dome. In conclusion, when used as it normally is, it brings about a completely physical fight, no special tools. In this instance, it defended the three of us from the resultant explosions that the unfortunate man had been caught in.

There were only two drawbacks; one was, of course, my own flames. To avoid getting myself dragged outside the dome and into the explosions, I had to snuff out my own flames, turning my gloves back to its usual form, a pair of mittens. The other drawback was that we couldn't actually see anything outside the dome, so I couldn't actually confirm that we managed to injure the enemy. It was actually quite possible that something happened out there that let him escape. Unlikely, but possible.

As it was, when Hibari collapsed the reversed Needle Sphere Form, letting Roll go back into his ring, there were a bundle of burning clothes right in front of us, and in that burning bundle of clothes was the man who attacked Link and I. As I approached, the man's eyes faced me – his face somehow was not burned, but his extremities were, though lucky for him Link turned down the power enough to avoid actually blowing any limbs off. But it was clear that he had no more strength to even stand up.

"W-why?" I finally asked him, my voice uncertain. "Why did you attack me and Link? We didn't do anything to you. A-and who are you?"

It was quiet for a minute. And then the man smiled. Sinisterly.

Before disappearing into fragments.

He didn't use his portal.

"Huh?"

That's when I felt the breeze on my back. And turned. And the scene from the gym replayed in my mind. Except, this time it wasn't Reborn. It wasn't even because the man tried to suck _Link_ in. No, this time it was planned and executed well.

A rip had appeared right beside Hibari and caught him off-guard.

"NO!" I was close enough to grab his tonfa, I tried to accelerate using my X-gloves – nothing! I had snuffed out my own flames!

I was dragged along! I tried to grab anything! Then my fingers caught Link's! We stopped moving! Yes!

"Hibari! Hold on!" I looked up – and I caught Hibari's eyes.

Those eyes told me.

I had to stop him. So even though I didn't like to order people around, I told him, "Hibari –"

I didn't even get _that_ sentence finished.

Kyouya Hibari was a man of principles – at least, that's how I see him. None of these principles allowed him to be saved by the people he regarded as beneath him. So of course he would come to that conclusion. He was a man of principles.

He let go of his tonfa and allowed himself to be swallowed into the rip that closed with a _snap_.

_**Originally, I was going to do just this chapter before moving into another story…but what the heck, I **_**can**_** create the next chapter and no one's going to miss something that wasn't made yet.**_

_**Please review! I have a feeling I may have been over descriptive…but I don't know for sure unless someone tells me! And I still need more tools, please! Or you can just comment on the plot! Any and all of this can be done with a single click…**_

_**Right here!**_


	3. Hold That Fist

**Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn belongs to Akira Amano (funnily enough, my first name in Japanese is Akira) and the Legend of Zelda series belongs to Capcom. I own absolutely nothing in relation to either works, except for the idea to mesh them together.**

_**A/N Good news, I'm not dead. ^^ Sorry for the late update though, this was supposed to be out three weeks ago…which was already what, four months since I last updated?**_

_**I blame life. And the chapter length. And the new story I'm working on.**_

_**Special thanks to **_**Ella Kinkari**_** for her review, and for selecting this chapter's special weapon. Additional thanks for inadvertently showing me that I could change my pen name. I really didn't know that before. ^^**_

_**Chapter length made it a bit hard to get everything straight, so I may not have edited as well as I should have. Nevertheless, I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations.**_

Chapter Three – Hold That Fist

Surprisingly, the same guy from before – the one who pointed Link and I to the three triangles mark – was in the school gym again. And speaking of the gym, I could see that it was already reconstructed – that was surprise number two. Surprise number three was who was with him.

"Sasagawa?" The captain of Namimori's boxing club, the Sun Guardian of my "family", and the older brother of my friend and longtime cr – uh, _friend_, pretty Kyouko Sasagawa. What was he doing here?

"Sawada! Hey! This guy was just telling me how you needed some help. Is it true? Is he really that strong? Heck yeah, I need some good action! I'm pumped to the extreme! When are we going? Where are we going? Hey, this must be your new friend!"

I blinked, answers forgotten. Oh yeah – the boxer and Link hadn't met each other yet.

The space of time it took for me to blink was enough for him to bounce over to Link's side, and clasp his hand. "The name is Ryouhei Sasagawa! My passion is boxing! And my motto is 'Live to the extreme'! Nice to meet you!"

Poor Link was looking at the earnest boxer's face, blinking at his exuberant attitude and at a complete loss for words. Not that he _could_ speak, but there really was no better way to put it.

"Now that we've got the formalities out of the way, let's get to the really important point –"

His earlier words sunk in.

"_Is it true? __**Is he really that strong**__? Heck yeah, I need some good action!"_

Oh. Now I get it.

Our "informant" withheld information.

His knowing about the sign in the sky was proof enough to show he was definitely in the know, somehow. From what he seems to have told Kyouko's brother, it was more than likely he also knew about the enemy, and exactly how dangerous that enemy was. He probably knew that inviting just one of my Guardians wasn't enough.

Strike that – the man _definitely_ knew this. He knew that even Hibari had a chance of losing. Why else would he get _another_ one of my Guardians, before he even found out whether we beat the stranger or not?

My eyes shifted to the man – still in his expensive-looking suit, a slight smirk on his face. I wasn't willing to say his expression was malevolent, but it couldn't be kind. His motives were too unclear. He didn't help as much as he should have if he really wanted me to win. Did he call in my Guardians to truly help me, or did he call them in hoping they would get themselves ki – captured? Until I knew the answer to this question…no, even then. Even if I knew the answer to this question, I can't let my friends, let alone Kyouko's brother, put their lives in danger.

"Um," I started sharply –

"Join the boxing club!"

…_Ah_.

"I've heard all about you from the school rumours! They say you beat six Kokuyou punks real good! We need people like you – you're just as much of a shining gem as Sawada is!"

…Did Kyouko's brother already forget the more serious problem here?

He answered that one in the next moment. "Oh yeah! But first, we need to take care of Grudge and rescue Master Paopao and Hibari, right?"

_I think that was a 'yes, he forgot'. At least he remembered now…but I still don't think him coming along is a good thing._

Then: _Hm. Grudge._

Again, I turned to the rich man. I glared at him, as ineffective as that might be –my heart was racing, and unbeknownst to Link the encounter with the coated man – _Grudge _– left my knees shaking and my hands trembling. Nonetheless, I tried to put some weight behind my words. "Did you know?"

"Know what?" There were hundreds of possible responses, and the stranger picked _that_ one. Now I'm starting to get really mad.

"Did you know about Grudge? No – how _much_ did you know about Grudge? Last time, you didn't even tell us his name. Why didn't you?"

The man raised an eyebrow.

"Did you know what he could've done? Did you know, if you had told us all about him, if you had told us everything we needed to know, then maybe _Hibari wouldn't have been killed_?"

"Wait, back up," the boxer interrupted. "_Hibari_ was killed?"

"I don't know! I have no idea what it could do!" I rounded on the man angrily. "And his name! You knew his name, and you didn't even tell us _that_. Why didn't you?"

"Because you never got around to asking that."

I grit my teeth. "And _why_ would that be?"

"You started to run off as soon as I told you the location?"

Hm. Good point.

"You left, too," I replied. "You pretty much disappeared as soon as Hibari distracted me."

"Well, I had one reconstruction contract to order, did I not?"

"That's beside the point."

"It's very much the point. Because I had to hurry off to find a suitable –"

"Fine, that's a valid point, but I _don_'_t care_. Just tell me, right now – are you going to help us?"

"Of course," he returned smoothly.

"Will you answer my questions?"

"Why not?"

Now we're getting somewhere. I opened my mouth – but then reconsidered the question.

Would "What is Grudge?" be specific enough? The man in front of me was just as slippery – I couldn't shake off the feeling he was about to use a loophole in my wording.

Yeah, maybe it's better to be more specific.

"What are Grudge's abilities?"

"He has three powers, formally named 'Pocket of Energy', 'Door of Passage', and 'Arch to Nothing'. I believe you've seen all of them – the Door, of course, is where he creates a portal through space which he walks through; the Pocket like a white hole, and when opened, releases a blast of pure energy; and the Arch is the one that sucked up your friend Kyouya Hibari and your mentor Reborn. I will tell you this, however – they are not dead. They're stuck in an empty, restricted volume somewhere within the boundless halls of space-time, and likely bored out of their minds – but far from dead. If you rescue them soon enough, they will be alive and well."

Relief poured through me. I let out a shaky breath that I didn't know I was holding, and drew in another one. "So they're alive…" I whispered.

Good news. The first piece of truly good news I had since this whole thing started.

"But I don't think I've seen this 'Pocket of Energy' power before. When did he…?"

"When he scorched the floor?" the man suggested.

"I thought that was his machine."

"Hardly. That was a disguise. Even if you damage that piece of junk in some way that you _think_ renders it unusable, he can and will still use that ability."

Dang. So he could still use that power, then…

But wait. "That's not right. He must have another power."

"Oh? Why do you suggest that?"

"Because usually when he uses, um, the Doors – usually I can see the black aura as he uses his power. Last time, he didn't do that."

"Didn't he?"

"I'm sure."

"Are you really?"

"Well, yes."

"Do you think you can trust your eyes?"

I frowned. What just flipped back on his "annoying" switch again?

"Yes, I can!"

"Are you sure you're sure?"

"Yes!"

"Perhaps you were mistaken?"

Before I knew it, I was clenching my fist. "Yes, I'm sure! He _must_ have another power!"

The man sighed, and said disdainfully: "I do not think so. Let me check." Immediately followed by – "Nope."

I was really considering going Deathperation mode again and trying to beat the information out of him – my friends' lives could be at stake here, who was he to be so coy with me?

"Then how does he –!"

"You're running out of time," the man interrupted. "If you want to keep your next appointment with Grudge you have to go soon."

"Wait – he's alive?" No, that was a stupid question. If he wasn't alive, he couldn't've used his powers and if couldn't use his powers, Hibari would still be here.

But thinking about that gave me another round of shivers. True, Hibari had been careless, but he was still the best of us. None of my other Guardians would ever admit it, but if he was so readily subdued by anyone other than Reborn, their morale would really plummet. And, despite what they might tell me and how Reborn would lecture me about why the family needed to stand together in sticky situations, I still felt that, at least in this situation, this was only between me and Grudge. And Link.

So I still didn't think too lightly of my Sun Guardian coming along.

I voiced it. "Sasagawa…I think you should stay behind."

"Of course! You're the leader!"

Did this just happen this easily?

"Um, you do understand what I just said, right?"

"Yup!" the boxer responded cheerfully in a tone that suggested to me I was about to be slapped with stupidity. "You want me to stay behind you when you beat Grudge beyond the extreme!"

…Sometimes, I wonder how this guy could possibly be Kyouko's sister.

"No!" I insisted. "I meant you should stay behind, as in stay on this spot after Link and I go!"

My Sun Guardian scratched his head. "What? But then how am I supposed to help you?"

"You're not supposed to! That's what I'm trying to say!"

"But that's what this guy said…"

"Well, screw 'this guy'! His opinion _doesn't matter_!" I turned, daring him to argue.

I was staring at a telephone pole.

* * *

I jogged down the stairway. Link quickly followed, and a moment later, Sasagawa entered. The various shops, for reasons unknown, were closed early. Not a lot of people were around; that in itself was also unusual. Something was up. I paused for a second at the bottom of the stairs, but then pushed on, forcing a foot ahead of another foot, not bothering to check if my friends were following, wiping a sweaty palm against the side of my trousers, and finally I stepped just over the yellow line before the actual subway track.

I peered into the dark depth of the subway route. Nothing. Not that I expected anything.

I withdrew. Just when I stepped back, the boxer called me over. "Tsuna! You seeing this?"

When I turned, the boxer was pointing at a scrolling ceiling display. Where it should be telling the time, and when the next train would come in, it only said _6 minutes_.

_To what?_ I wondered.

"You sure this is the right place?"

"Well, there was the yellow triangles floating in the sky above this place," I responded. "The same triangle was in the last place we had to go to."

Though, this time the colour was yellow. Last time it was purple. Why the change? I'd better ask the…rich guy, the next time I see him. Dang, I still didn't have his name. I should really ask for that.

The boxer moved off and I realized he must've given a response. What was it? I didn't want to inquire him. I still wasn't sure he should've come. As much as I tried to shake him off – well, I'll just say he was good enough to try out for the sprinting team. I sighed, and I just moved off to sit in an unoccupied bench.

Ah, an unoccupied bench. One of the many rarities of a near-empty subway station.

That reminds me…I glanced around. Link, Sasagawa and I were now the only ones left. The few people I saw earlier, when I first came down, had gone.

That was even more curious.

The tapping on my shoulder told me Link wanted to talk to me. Sure enough, Link was already starting a question when I turned.

"Why do you call your rings 'box weapons'?"

That was _not_ what I was expecting. "H-huh? That's kind of a long story…"

Link just sat there patiently, as if he was saying _I've got all the time in the world, or at least until the time comes for me to rescue my girlfriend and hopefully beat the tar out of Grudge along the way_.

I cracked a smile. Even I had no idea whether the latter part came from. But it was a reminder – of the grave danger that Zelda was in. As were Reborn and Hibari, probably. We can't screw this up.

But back to the question…"We only have six – five," I corrected after another look, "five minutes until something happens. So long story short, we went to the future, got box weapons, fought a guy named Byakuran, I beat him, and before we went back to the present a couple of scientists fixed the boxes around until they became rings so that it won't cause a…" Here I stopped to think. "A 'time parameter', I think. Something like that, I'm not too good with science stuff," I explained, slightly sheepish.

Link held up his own box.

"Yeah, I know what you're thinking, and I've no idea myself where Reborn got that – or even if that messes up the timeline in some irreversible way. Hopefully not…"

I glanced back at the ceiling display. Now it said four minutes remaining.

Link tapped my shoulder again, and when I turned back, instead of asking me a question this time he just pointed at my ring. _One_ ring in particular.

I grinned. I let run the Sky Flame from my Vongola Ring, pressed it against the ring Link was pointing at, and with a _pop!_ Natsu burst out.

"Rawr," he purred.

"This is Natsu," I explained fondly, ruffling his soft mane. "He's a Sky Lion. The attribute of the Sky is harmonization, which is why when Natsu roars he can petrify anything he wants to. Same way how the attribute of the Cloud is propagation, and Hibari could make his Cloud Hedgehog multiply or grow bigger." I frowned. "I think."

After a moment, Link reached his own fingers forward, and petted the side of Natsu's face, making him purr even more. Natsu then followed up by leaping forward and licking Link's face, causing Link to go something like "Haaah!" and jerking back out of his seat.

I laughed as Natsu kept licking Link's face after that, something he was uncomfortable with, seeing his squirming – and then Natsu abruptly stopped, pointing his nose straight up and sniffing.

I didn't realize something was up myself until I thought to check the display again.

_One minute remaining_, it said.

"One minute," I muttered, letting Natsu bounce onto my shoulder. "Sasagawa! Where –"

Which was quickly answered by the "TO THE EXTREME!" echoing from the tunnels.

The _subway_'s tunnels.

Uh-oh.

I gulped. "W-when did…h-how am I supposed to…" I started, until I suddenly found in my hands the container for my Deathperation pills. "Thanks, Link." I quickly opened it up, swallowing one, and then I set it down and pulled on my mittens quickly, letting it transform into the X-gloves again when the Deathperation flame blazed to life on my forehead.

"One moment," I told Link a bit weakly, but not without confidence.

"Rawr," Natsu added.

I jumped into the tunnels – accelerating in midair, I set off at a quick pace towards Sasagawa's voice. And twenty seconds later, passed him running in the opposite direction.

And nearly smashed into the train!

Amidst Natsu's surprised caterwaul I gritted my teeth, pulling for a hard reverse, taking extra care not to incinerate Sasagawa, who I had just now passed again.

"Hold on!"

Those two simple words were apparently enough time to halve the distance between us and the incoming hammer of doom. Er, the head of the train. Aw, heck.

I managed to grab the boxer by his hand, lifting his feet off the ground and making him look like he was trying to jig. I took one instant to glance back, and saw that there were no glass windows – someone hated us enough to send the only full metal train in service personally after our hides.

I accelerated even more – pushing, pushing – dang it! We weren't going to make it!

…Then I realized we didn't _have_ to make it.

Carefully, I slowed myself down, despite the lion's nervous whimpering and the Sun Guardian's many protesting squawks. He touched down near the headlights first, his foot clumsily starting to support his weight, then his knees buckled and they collided with the train, then his elbows, and finally I deemed it safe enough to let go of him, and when I did he was shaky but managed to stop himself from collapsing onto the face of the train. He had the energy to shout out "Whoa! Extreme!"

My turn – I followed the same process, toes, knees, shoulder, head, all touching the face of the train in order and suddenly it wasn't so much of a run-away-for-your-life event than simply enjoying the ride.

_So this must be what it feels like to ride a roller coaster. It's not so bad after all, I might try it once all this is over._

Then: _Did you see that, Reborn? I remembered your lessons from yesterday. Relative motion means that the speed of collision is no more than the difference of their respective velocities. The normal force applied a wall can increase friction to a point where it seems like objects are sticking to it even when the force is perpendicular to the force of gravity. If only I could remember for the physics test next week._

Unfortunately, the seven seconds of exhilarating motion abruptly stopped when the trains braked.

…_And now with no force of friction, gravity will drag us down kicking and screaming._

Not if I can help it. With a grunt, I managed to grab Sasagawa again, and with the right hand pointed straight down, I let loose all the power I could muster, scorching the floor. In less than a second I was no longer falling and I did something like a forward summersault in the air – dizzying the poor boxer – and with one final burst of power I let myself fly sideways, on to the platform, and as the train smoothly slid into its place I lost my grip on the boxer, collided onto the ground, Natsu sprang away, rolled over twice, and found myself staring up at Link's face.

"We're back," I managed.

* * *

Apparently Sasagawa had explored around a bit, found a door, went through it, found himself in the tunnels and then found the door locked behind him. I guess I couldn't blame him for that, but I did grumble for a bit.

Link seemed to know a bit of medical procedures because he had the boxer and me lying down for a moment to recover while he checked for any visible injuries. As soon as that was done he told us to sit up and gently test our extremities and finally when we were allowed to stand up he had us jumping slightly on the spot.

Or, maybe he was just using common sense and making sure it didn't hurt too much if we discovered a broken bone.

Either way Link was reasonably confident that neither of us had suffered any significant injuries, so at that point I turned and faced the train that had nearly run us over.

From the moment I saw it, I should've realized it wasn't an ordinary subway train. _Ordinary_ ones had to be light, smooth, and aerodynamic to be able to move so fast through the underground tunnels. _This_ one, on the other hand, looked like an actual train, with its flat metal front that dragged on wind unlike a real subway train's diagonal nose-like head. The rest of it was made out of stone. It had no windows, and it looked like it didn't even have joints; in other words, it was a single rectangular prism about ten metres long that shouldn't even be able to turn. But what was the most striking about the train was that it had a yellow door, similar to the one that was on the house that Hibari, Link and I had gone through only an hour ago, with the only difference being the colour.

Absolutely no doubt, then. This was the place we needed to go into.

I was never good at learning from my mistakes, but luckily I did remember that the last time we tried to go in, there was a booby-trap that was triggered as soon as I opened the door. I motioned for Link and Sasagawa to join me at the side of the door, and then slid the door open.

Nothing this time. I peeked in.

To my left and to my front, all there was a cold stone wall, similar in look to the hard walls of our previous location. To my right, a seemingly long corridor led into the darkness with no end in sight.

This was not good. If there was a long-range attack coming at us, there would be nowhere to hide.

Then again, what choice did we have? And it wasn't like I couldn't blast whatever was coming into soot with my X-burner. So I stepped in, and both Link and Sasagawa followed.

The moment they both stepped in, the door closed with a _snap_.

My fleeting moment of wariness was snuffed as soon as the corridors alighted – torches, again similar to the previous dungeon-like place. The ones nearest to us flickered to life first – and then, as if triggered by circuitry, the adjacent ones flared, then the next one, then the next…in no time at all, I could see quite clearly that I was right when I said there was no end in sight.

But at least there didn't seem to be any enemies for now.

_Skitkitkitkitkitkitkitkit…_

I just _had_ to jinx that.

Even with the warm yet cold light cast by the torches, the bits of yellow glow in the distance was still distinct. Again – last time the box animal army glowed with purple light. This time it was yellow. _Why?_

Plenty enough time to worry about that later. For now – I probably should worry about the incoming force.

Link and Sasagawa had the same idea. The bright flash from behind startled Natsu for a moment until he realized it was Sasagawa's Sun Kangaroo, nicknamed Kangaryuu, being summoned, at which point Natsu pouted cutely.

Link was a little bit more hesitant in opening his box; I couldn't blame him, after the last surprise. But still… "No time for pause," I reminded.

Link nodded, and placed his flaming ring squarely into the niche of the box. It burst open with a flash, and in his hands Link held a bom –

No, a shiel –

Nope, it was a stone rod.

A stone rod that looked like a _garbage picker_.

"Link, I don't think now's the time to be overly green."

I wasn't too surprised when Sasagawa didn't get it, instead cheerfully exclaiming "Don't worry Tsuna! Save your strength, we can take care of these guys."

"Are you sure?" Maybe I was being too doubtful of my friends…but I can't possibly be too careful today.

"Hey, I'm a boxer! Don't underestimate boxers! And besides, this guy's a Doraemon! He can take care of himself long enough for me to help out!"

"Sasagawa, Doraemon can take care of anything but _that_."

And with the "_that_" I pointed rather importantly at our incoming enemies, rats.

There were seriously dozens of those yellow furballs scuttling towards us. Unlike Mickey Mouse, those thing's ears were tiny and their eyes were vicious. And even from a distance I could make out the wickedly sharp teeth and long nails that would no doubt leave a deep gash into the skin.

Ignoring (or maybe not hearing) my comment, Sasagawa instead just hooting out a "To the extreme!" both he and Link stepped forward. His box weapon quickly handed over a pair of boxing gloves which the Sun Guardian pulled onto his hands, and he lowered his centre of gravity and raised his relaxed fists to his face. Link followed suit, widening his stance, balanced his mass, and held the rod with both hands into what looked suspiciously like a batting position.

"Ready Link?" the boxer called out.

Link nodded in response.

They both took a deep breath.

The boxer made the first move. With a respectable yell he leapt forward quicker than sound!

No rat had time to react as he twisted his entire body into a devastating left hook!

Which missed!

"_What are you doing?_"

"I can't reach it!"

"_Use your feet!_"

"I'm a boxer!"

"_Attack with your animal!_"

"No! He's a supporting character, and he's staying that way!"

"_You're supposed to be fighting for your life_!"

"My honour is more important!" Sasagawa announced brilliantly. And with that valiant last cry he tried to punch with a left straight, entirely failing the reach his adversary on the floor, which promptly bit into his bare foot (where was his shoes?) making the boxer howl, kick out, lose balance and crash down on his back, before he raised a fist and moaned, "Tsuna, I leave the rest to you…"

"_Stop quoting cheesy lines!_"

Link was having far better success. The first thing he did was an underhand swing that caught a rat and sent it flying into the ceiling, destroying it. Next he kicked out and caught another two rats, one going _poof_, and then brought his rod down on top of another two, killing both instantly.

Unfortunately, one of the claws broke.

Link was hit in the face with the chipped stone and he jerked back, nearly losing his balance.

And then one of the rats bit his shoes.

Link was far more composed than the boxer was, but he still let out a gasp of pain before shaking his foot violently. The rat clung on.

And at this point I was out of patience. I jumped straight in, gripping the rat tightly, causing the rat to release its hold. Then I prepared to squeeze it.

Somewhere in the back of my head: _That's kinda…unnecessarily…cruel, isn't it?_

Until the rat bit my finger, losing all my sympathy.

I crushed the rat with my fingers, letting it squeal and _poof_, and Natsu who had been on my shoulder leapt down and faced the remaining rats.

_GRAAAAAAAH!_

With an impressive roar, the six rats left all froze. Natsu bounded up to my shoulder again, and I returned Natsu to his passive state, clenching my fist as the ring reformed.

…It was eerily quiet.

"Isn't…isn't long hallways like this supposed to echo?"

Whether or not it should was forgotten when I realized the more important thing.

"Where did the rest of the hallway go?"

* * *

To my eternal shame, I had never thought to look to the left.

In my defence, straight hallways were not supposed to change direction. What had moments before been a long corridor with torches running along for who knows how long, had suddenly turned into a corner with torches running along for who know how long in the perpendicular direction, leaving me staring at a seeming wall, which would leave anyone stumped.

But what Reborn would no doubt near-murder me for is the fact that I didn't take the time to make a simple assessment of my surroundings.

So when Link pointed out that suddenly a passage to the left had appeared, I had nothing to say but "Ah." That, and to cough self-consciously.

But what I _could_ do was to confirm that this wasn't place wasn't an ordinary dungeon. In fact, it seemed to me that this place was actually _alive_.

I already had my suspicions from the last dungeon we were in. It was way out of proportion from what it looked like outside to what it was inside. That bit, I could sort of get a grip on, because it was possible that it was some kind of advanced Mafia science or – or like _magic_, like whatever had turned Reborn into a baby, from an age old enough he could be a grandpa. But there was more to it – I felt that the very walls and floors seemed to be testing us. It was one possibility for why we could only move forward by bashing in a side wall. And, whatever had prevented Grudge from escaping – I had noticed that though he sent Zelda out of the dungeon-like building, even when he went through the same portal he_ could not get out of the room and instead ended up near the walls_. He ended up near the borders of whatever contained him inside. It was almost like something was physically holding him back. There were also those bars that clanged down as soon as Link stepped into a room. It wasn't like there was a tripwire or anything – that could have been seen after the fact. Both pressure pads and motion sensors would have worked more than once, but nothing did. Somehow the house, without known methods of detection, reacted to both of Link's feet inside and brought unnaturally resilient steel bars down with a loud –

_CLANG!_

And it was unlikely that whoever had built that place had the foresight to believe that virtually _tankproof_ metals were needed to protect whatever had been inside. So that left the sole conclusion – well, not the _only _one, but I had a feeling that the right answer is this – the very place was at least _aware_, if not actually alive. Not only that – the obstacles it pitted were tailored specifically against the powers that we had brought, and…

…Wait a minute.

Turning around gave me the impression that Sasagawa and Link had somehow earned their way into prison.

Or, more likely, I was isolated and possibly about to be attacked.

Then the glimpse of what was behind the boxer and our overly environmentally friendly pal changed my mind yet again.

"Is that…a Roggenrola?"

That was the only likeness I could think of. It was a moving _rock_, one that was roughly oval-shaped and obviously rugged. It was crawling slowly but steadily, and that's when I looked at its feet, and realized it – the feet – were little more than goo.

So what the heck was that thing?

"Careful!" I cried out. But of course, Link already knew to be careful. The rod was held at a distance ready to be swung at a moment's notice.

"Sasagawa! Get ready!"

The boxer eyed his adversary for a moment, and then straightened coolly, frowning, and crossed his arms. "I'm going to let Link take this one by himself."

"Huh? Why?"

"Call it a test. I need to know what he's capable of."

"But if Link gets into trouble…?"

"His enemy doesn't look that tough. But if he needs it, I'll give help."

"Really?" I was now doubtful.

"Hey, trust me! I know what I'm doing."

"…Are you sure you're not sitting this one out because the hem of your pants got caught under the bars?"

And the boxer blushed. "Wh-what are you talking about? There's no way I could get that lame!"

…I had to agree, Link had to take this one by himself. And we didn't have much of a choice about it.

So it was with reluctance that I watched as Link drew in a breath, let it out.

Then he leaped!

Landed perfectly!

Swung his rod!

And the last two claws broke!

Link gasped in pain. He nearly dropped the rod – but managed to grab on with one hand.

But that moment was long enough for the creature, moving surprisingly fast, to smash its head into Link's stomach.

He grunted and stepped back one, twice, three steps.

"Link!" I yelled out. "Are you okay?"

He didn't respond – maybe he didn't hear, maybe he was just concentrating. Either way he kept his face straight on the box animal, holding out his rod. But I noticed – he was still only grabbing on to the rod with one hand. The other was hanging limp.

One of my many former enemies was a swordsman named Superbi Squalo, and he used a similar attack on my friend Takeshi Yamamoto once before. Using his strength, he hammered onto Yamamoto's sword, causing a vibration, an impact shock, that numbed the senses in Yamamoto's hands. At the same time, his training prevented the shockwave from damaging his _own_ hands, thus being unhindered and gaining an advantage.

It was a similar case here – but though Link had plenty of strength, he did not have skill, his opponent was too solid and too heavy, and the weapon he was using was a _stick_. All that added up to the fine conclusion of a rebound force, rattling and damaging not only his weapon but his own hands.

Not good.

_What next?_ I wondered.

I was pleasantly surprised.

Link jumped back and, with one hand, swung the rod again, this time like a golf club.

And he aimed at the stone rat!

The end result was that it went flying straight into the softer, more tender part of the monster's body – its feet, or maybe it was just its base. Either way, the monster toppled, seemingly crippled.

As quickly as possible, Link kept hitting all the rats I had petrified with Natsu, scoring not only another hit onto the base, but also dinged the rock exterior and even got one into what seems to be a peeking hole.

It was with no small satisfaction that I thought, _That should hurt._

The boxer was thinking the same thing. "That's awesome to the extreme!"

The monster cowered, trying to make itself as small as possible. Its feet – base – were drawn into its stone shell, but it couldn't do anything for its other open eye.

I could predict Link's next move. And sure enough, Link held his rod like a spear, preparing to plunge it into the small hole.

And then the monster leaped!

Too late, I saw that it was only drawing its legs in to wind up.

By that time, the creature already sprung –

Closed the gap –

Nailed Link right in the stomach!

He gasped in pain, dropped his rod, and stumbled back.

"_Link!_"

Gritted teeth were not something I could see from this point of view, but I could easily imagine Link trying to suppress the pain. Heck, that thing must be rock hard, and more importantly, heavy. So much so that it's a wonder it can even move.

"Sasagawa! Help him!"

Maybe the boxer was about to react. But unfortunately, that was the moment the creature decided to spring once more, hurling towards Link –!

In my peripheral vision, a small mass suddenly zoomed in –

Leapt –

And collided!

Knocked the creature off course!

And then got mobbed!

I stared. I could not believe my eyes.

Five small statues of _rats_ were attacking their bigger cousin.

Link didn't hesitate. With one final yell, he grabbed his rod off the floor and stabbed it into the peephole.

And the creature dissolved into fragments.

* * *

The bars were raised.

The next moment I was right beside Link.

"So…how did that happen?"

Like a family all the rats faced my direction and cocked their head sideways.

"…Creepy."

The tapping on my shoulder wasn't enough to trust the rats with my back, so Link just sighed and moved forward, disregarding my "Psst! Link! Get back here!" and "Are you sure they're _safe_?" and tapped one rat – lightly – on the head with his rod.

At once, its yellow glow faded and the rat was a statue once more. The rest of the statues ignored what happened to their kin, preferring to sniff – or at least try to sniff – the tip of Link's rod.

The answer hit me.

"Animation," I breathed out wonderingly. "Your rod is a Sun-Attribute weapon. Sun attributes have the property of animation. Most Sun animals – Sasagawa's included – manifest that property by accelerating healing. Yours, instead, gives statues the ability to move!"

"Extreme! By the way, I don't get it."

I decided to ignore the boxer. "But to what extent can you control it?"

Link cocked his head sideways – similarly to the rats, that was surprising yet unsurprising at the same time – and in the next moment, I was watching a miniature version of a circus performance, complete with attempted contortions, acrobatics, and a balancing act.

"That's amazing! What else?"

Link frowned once, and then suddenly I was watching a re-enactment of the _Three Musketeers_. Or maybe they were just miming getting killed by AK-47s.

"…Anything useful?"

One rat stood straight up on its hind legs, sniffed the air, then scuttled to a wall…and then disappeared.

"Um…huh?"

In sign language, Link explained, "He felt a breeze. Which means there's a hole somewhere. I don't know why we can't see it though."

…Was it too early for me to explain to Link that for some reason there were _real_ magicians in the Mafia? Well, illusionists actually. But still, the basis of magical abilities was the same. Not that the Deathperation flames and the high-ranking Arcobaleno babies weren't fantastical enough already. Yet there was still a major difference in my mind if something was explained in the context of science opposed to in the context of magic.

And then I was spared the trouble of deciding when something went _Click!_

The roof somehow opened up.

"Hey, is that a statue…?" Sasagawa started.

"_MOVE!_"

_BOOM!_

"Gah!" Dust clouds! "Sasagawa! Link! Are you okay?"

Visibility was restored quickly enough, and it became apparent they were, in fact, okay. Link seemingly managed to be quicker than me, managing to grab the boxer's arm and jerk him back. It helped that he was closer.

And now Sasagawa said "Whoa, you're good! Join the boxing club!" So at least that mean the boxer was physically unhurt and mentally right in the mind…at least, no more weirder than he was before.

Okay, maybe that was a bit mean.

"Sasagawa…you've already asked him."

"No I haven't! I would've remembered!"

I decided not to point out that Gokudera had scientifically established that Sasagawa has the memory capacity reaching into the negatives. And unlike me, Gokudera was a straight-A student.

But the main concern is: why was there a falling statue?

On closer inspection, it turned out to be a fairly large Buddha statue, and it now sat majestically and tranquilly, one palm raised and the other resting on his lap, on the spot my Sun Guardian was standing on only a couple of seconds earlier. It was twice my height, and its head just barely brushed against the somehow replaced ceiling. That now had some kinda metal grille embedded in it.

Looking back at the statue, I decided it wasn't so majestic anymore when I noticed the cracked butt.

Where did it come from? I jumped and flew up for a closer look of the iron grille. It seemed to be made of the same iron as the bars that had separated me from Link twice already – which means I can't melt it. But there was a keyhole, though, which meant that it _could_ be opened.

But where was the key? Was it somewhere further down the hallway? I glanced at said hallway – now totally straight again – and wondered if this was a trick, too, like the way Hibari had to smash the wall to get us out of the probably-looping hallway.

"Hey! I found a key!"

I was almost surprised that Sasagawa just proved himself useful in a situation outside of combat. (Ugh…Reborn's attitude was rubbing off on me.) But it was with some definite and heightened respect I landed back on the ground, and asked "Where?"

Pointing, Sasagawa replied, "Stuck on the statue's finger."

"…Ah." A quick look made it clear it was, and pretty solidly, too. I tugged on it. Didn't even budge. I jumped off of the statue's lap, and considered my options.

Sasagawa punching and shattering the statue was definitely one way. But there was another method that was much less of a hassle.

"Link…can you control this statue like you did the rats?"

He nodded, and tapped each of the rats in turn – the one that had gone into the invisible hole had evidently returned when I wasn't looking – and all of them re-froze into statues. He then tapped the Buddha statue's knee lightly.

At once, the statue literally jumped to life, banging his head against the ceiling, wincing, and deciding to sit down again. The statue reached its hand up, delicately and carefully placing the key inside its keyhole, and after a moment, unlocked it.

At once, the whole thing untangled itself, each descending row and column being withdrawn in an orderly, smooth and authoritative manoeuvre into the hidden thickness of the ceiling.

"Let's go. Who wants to be brought up first?"

"I will be brought by no one!" The boxer declared.

"Then how are…" I trailed off as I caught sight of Link. "Oh."

A quick jump had landed him right on the lap of the Buddha statue, at which point he scrambled onto the left hand. Balanced precariously, he took another step onto the shoulders, and then reached up, catching the rim of the opening on the ceiling, and finally swung himself over expertly, landing lightly on his feet.

And before I had the chance to comment…

"Ha! I will not be outperformed!" And with that, the boxer rushed to the statue, taking a flying leap, landing right on the left hand…and then tripping over the shoulder, flying way past it and crashing onto the floor.

"Sasagawa!"

"Graah! Clever trick! But nothing can hold me back! I will beat your time!"

…And now, Sasagawa was concerned with being quicker than Link…in statue climbing, apparently.

_Crack_.

I glanced sharply up. _That didn't sound good._ I re-released Natsu as I shouted, "Sasagawa, get up there, fast!"

And with that I left the boxer behind as I jumped and zoomed upwards past the opening.

* * *

Unlike last time, Grudge was waiting for me.

The first thing I saw was a hand pointing straight at me.

Quicker than I could move, it flashed once.

And everything went dark.

I allowed myself one grin. "Sorry, Grudge, but now I know your tricks."

And I swept out majestically the cloak that Natsu had quickly turned into. "**Mantello di Vongola Primo**, the cloak of the first Vongola, negates all attacks. You're going to need something much better than that."

With that said I zoomed in, landed, darted, and punched the stuffing out of Grudge.

Literally. I saw the tooth that fell out and flew threw the air. Ew.

The punch to the face wasn't enough, so I decided to try a knee straight into the groin, making Grudge double up and near-retch on me, making me decide it wasn't such a good idea.

I placed a hand on his back and, spinning, hurled him – strength from the gloves making up for lack of technique – and in a whirlwind of cloak and coat the man was sent flying into a wall, banging his head.

Still didn't take him out.

As he leapt to his feet I returned Natsu to his animal state.

Seeing this he pointed his hand at me again.

Sucker.

"Now, Natsu!"

"_GRAAAH_!"

Grudge was smart enough to move out of the way – but he was too slow and the attack caught one of his arms. He gasped, and fell to his knees, cradling his arm.

It was at this point that I noticed Link feebly stirring some ways down the hall, but he shouldn't be in any danger now. I turned back to the stone-armed man. "Tell me why you are here," I commanded coldly. "Tell me why you attacked my friends. Release them. And then leave."

Grudge was still clutching his petrified arm. Panting slightly, he glanced up at me for a moment long enough to let me know just how much he hated me.

And then he rasped out, "You will not get in my way."

He fell back into a black hole, disappearing. I listened for a moment, and when I heard a breath struck out upwards, catching him straight in the chin. With my other hand I grabbed onto his arm, and slammed him straight into the ground, making him choke.

"I'm not taking no for an answer," I growled. "_Give me back my friends!_"

The dark-clad man was wheezing and struggling, and he managed to spit out at me. It fell short.

I punched him on the chest, making him gag again.

"_Give me back my friends!_"

"Only," he gasped, "only in your dreams."

And that was when I saw – he had no tongue!

My eyes widened. With me distracted a push managed to send me stumbling back.

His right hand raised, he prepared to attack.

_Smack!_

And received a punch across the face.

Not from me this time. Sasagawa had managed to finally get to this floor, and had jumped into the fight.

Grudge was sent tripping over his feet. He tried to stagger up, and then the boxer managed another jab straight across the face.

In a flurry of punches, Grudge was struck in the stomach, the side, the face, the face again, the back, and with a low blow to the back of the knee Sasagawa felled him, and as he landed –

_BAM!_

Landed a punch just as he hit the ground!

Grudge choked out – and then melted back into the shadow of the portal he created.

He reappeared right behind Sasagawa, raising his stone arm – only to be caught by me. I spun him again, slammed him onto the wall, and pinned him. "Tell me why you are here and release my friends!"

When another Doorway was created I saw instantly, and against my better instincts as he melted through I pushed in after him.

And then we got picked up by a giant hand.

"LINK! LET ME DOWN!"

Glancing over at him, I saw a hurried "Sorry" – then I was abruptly dropped, and then I hovered in midair as I took another stock of the situation.

Somewhere Link had managed to find a giant monkey statue. It was glowing with a yellowish tinge as it grasped a struggling Grudge in its grips. He had not yet escaped with a Doorway. Perhaps the statue had the same properties as the dungeon?

I was only a little way down the hall – Sasagawa was already reaching us. With a respectable leap, he delivered a right straight into Grudge's arms, sending the recipient, statue and all, flying fifteen feet down the corridor and into a wall.

A wall!

_We're at the end of the hallway!_

Then_: The end is cracked! We can get out that way!_

And then_: Oh crud._

"Sasagawa –!" I started to cry out –

Too late.

The Sun Guardian _always_ uses his left hand in a recreational fight. The reason for this was plain and simple – his right hand was _too powerful_. One leaping punch had enough power inside to send a man and a stone statue flying five yards. Imagine the power contained when he was grounded, when he could plant himself push off from the ground to add in additional strength.

It was ridiculous.

Probably enough to shatter stone walls, even when they weren't cracked.

Hence the problem.

"**Maximum Cannon**!" he roared, and with a punch meant as a finisher, he collided his fist with the enemy, impacting him onto the statue, which was pressed against the cracked wall, which ended up utterly destroying it, and allowed Grudge to escape.

And I watched helplessly as our enemy escaped for a second time, flying into the wind and darkness of the subway tunnels, just managing to catch a glimpse of the monkey statue sucked up into an Arch to Nothing.

_**Anyone see the FMA reference?**_

_**And for those wondering: Tsuna plays Pokémon Black and White because I said so. ^^**_

_**If no one minds me doing a bit of complaining…I decided early on that I wasn't going to use Japanese honorifics in here. Bad mistake. Tsuna usually calls Ryouhei "Nii-san", which is basically "big brother", and the Viz Media translation uses "Kyouko's brother" when he's referencing the boxer. Obviously that was a bit too clunky to use in prose…but I'm afraid I made Tsuna a little bit more OOC than I would've liked by having him refer to Ryouhei by last name.**_

_**And as always, there was more I wanted to say but forgot. T-T Ah well, at least you guys are spared the pain of reading more of my complaints.**_

_**I'll be having a new story up in a week or two. It's a **_**Percy Jackson and the Olympians**_** and **_**Mabinogi**_** crossover called **_**Gods Not My Own**_**. Yup, this is a shameless plug.**_

_**I'm pretty sure I said this before…but for now I'm putting updates to this story on a hold until I'm finished with my new story. But please, don't discourage you from reviewing! I still need weapons for four more chapters. If I finish the story but still don't have another suggestion, well, sorry, that'll be more waiting on your part. Besides which, constructive criticisms are always appreciated.**_

_**Thanks for reading this far. Remember, please comment!**_


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